Next Champions Online updates focus on content, grouping and more

by Kyle Horner Sep 16th 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, News items, Champions Online

The newest state of the game is out for Champions Online and it discusses many upcoming changes that we think players will highly appreciate. Of particular note are three new repeatable missions coming soon to Monster Island. Interestingly, these missions are said to change as players repeat them, but that's all Cryptic was willing to divulge for the time being.

Another significant change will be the ability to see mission objectives of another player's active missions on your team and be rewarded if you help them complete that mission -- even if you don't currently have it. That last part is an important change, because it's a new incentive to group that's currently only there because of the tougher missions.

There are plenty more upcoming improvements, which can be found in a short-list after the break.

Three new repeatable quests on Monster Island to help relieve the content gap.
UI improvements allowing players to see team missions they don't have.
Showing your team members' current objectives on active missions and giving rewards to heroes that assist on missions even if they aren't on them.
Further improvements to the mail system and power balancing.
Economy improvements to help boost the amount of resources available to players.
The addition of a grayscale selector to power customization for characters who may not want bright and colorful powers.
The ability to skip the tutorial if a player has already completed it once.
Club Caprice and The Powerhouse zones will be made iduel-free.
A room for The Powerhouse where new powers can be tested on automated enemies.

Tags: atari, champions-online, club-caprice, cryptic, cryptic-studios, economy, grayscale, powerhouse, state-of-the-game, tutorial, user-interface

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Ultron said on 4:12PM 9-16-2009

So... why wasn't this stuff in at launch?

dudemanjac said on 6:45PM 9-16-2009

Who cares? It is the way things are. Once again a big thank you to Cryptic for keeping things moving.

I will say that I want to be able to duel in the powerhouse. I't houw I test my self against others in pvp.

Sente said on 6:44PM 9-16-2009

Mission content and similar things are stuff that they probably aim for something close to a minimum needed for a launch - you can always add more over time.

I would think they are more likely to be concerned with that game mechanics works as they should (or close enough) before a launch.

At some point they probably also have a number of features that may be considered nice but not essential, but which are not completed yet. Some of the features here may be in that category. A reason for not including some of them at launch would be to see what features players see that they miss the most. It would not be much point in adding something if there are few people that care about it, if there are other things someone can work on.

Thus, a reaction like "why was this not in at launch" points to that they have picked the right features to complete.

Aganazer said on 4:41PM 9-16-2009

Its impressive how quickly they have responded to community suggestions.

I agree with Ultron that these should have been done by launch, but I don't think I would have wanted to wait another month to start playing. I was really hurting for a MMOG fix, so no complaints about an imperfect release here.

primetime said on 4:47PM 9-16-2009

Yeah, I totally agree. CO should have had all these features when the game was released.

Also, WoW should have had the ability to change faction, look, been able to get to level 80, and flying mounts when it released too.

PeterD said on 5:16PM 9-16-2009

Yeah, where do you draw the line between "that should be have been in at release, boo!" and "hey, new content!" MMOs (should) always add new content over time, and that's a good thing. Complaining that all new content should have been in at release is pretty pointless.

I have to say though, 3 new repeatable quests are not a good way to fill a content gap. They're not really content, they're just a patch on a gaping wound--better than nothing but not a real solution. Hopefully Cryptic is treating it as such and will be providing real content for the content gaps soon.

Psychotic Storm said on 5:32PM 9-16-2009

For me there is no line.

For me the moment an MMO is launched, is the moment the development studio starts requiring external funding, not because they need the funding, that would be bad planning, but in order not to need funding.

So it is just the moment you pay to play, the development does not finish, there is no content that should be there from start, if the basic skeleton is there and it is playable the launch is good, then you build on that, that's why I usually say leave a year at least before you judge an MMO.

Haggs said on 5:05PM 9-16-2009

I'm waiting a year or so for Champions Online to build up a lot more content before I buy the game. Right now I'm very satisfied with City of Heroes, so I don't feel a big rush to start a new MMO.

Eldalie said on 8:55PM 9-16-2009

ack daily quests. if their is one aspect of mmo's that i cant stand its daily quests. Sure you don't have to do them but when it becomes the only viable path to levelling you character, either increasing level or reputation it becomes more like a daily core then gaming.

bluemeep said on 12:01AM 9-17-2009

Excellent. I'm continually impressed by the fact that only a few days after I think that a certain aspect of the game needs adjustment, that adjustment gets made. In this case, it's adding more test dummy varieties to the Powerhouse -- previously it was near impossible to gauge many effects that proc during combat (IE, the dodge advantage on Strafe).

It hasn't been an easy launch, but I'm giving full kudos to their team for staying on the ball.

Meagen said on 7:50AM 9-17-2009

It's nice that Cryptic listen to their players and all, but when they need player feedback to tell them to add features which CoH has had for years (mission sharing between teammates, a source of repeatable missions to cover content gaps), it just makes it painfully obvious that they're reinventing the wheel and that they're "the same studio that created CoH" in name only.

Super Healer said on 9:26AM 9-17-2009

Isnt this what beta testers are for - to see what needs improving in the game and implement it BEFORE launch?

Just goes to prove my opinion that most (not all) beta testers are only there to get a preview of the game before other people and not actually to help the devs in any way...!

Mudbeed said on 12:40PM 9-17-2009

To those that complain about things that should have been there before launch. You have a point, but honestly Champions is already a good game. Alot of the suggestions above are community supported suggestions.